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As I got older, there seemed to be more events and dates to keep straight in my head. I also found it confusing trying to remember how
old I was in any given year, let alone how old anyone else was when an event took place. Reasoning that the situation would only get worse as I got older, I decided to come up with a simple way to keep track of
the highlights of my life. I created a Life Book and it has proven to be the perfect solution. I've since taught many people how to make their own and the results and feedback have been terrific. I started with a large blank book. I made sure to find one with a cover I liked, knowing that the book would be with me for the rest of my life.
On the upper right corner of the first right-hand page, I wrote 1954 (the year I was born). At the bottom right corner, I wrote 0 - 1 to indicate how old I was during that year. On the next page, I wrote
1955 at the top and 1 - 2 at the bottom. I continued writing on each page, all the way to 1998 and 43 - 44. In 1960, I added what grade I
was in at school, starting with kindergarten. Then the real fun began. First, I wrote in all the events I could remember off the top of my head.
For example, in 1960 my best friend moved into the neighborhood and we went trick-or-treating together that Halloween. I went to sleep-away camp for the first time in 1963, started playing guitar in
1965, wrote my first song in 1969 and had a crush on the high school music teacher in 1970. I graduated high school in 1972 and college in 1977. I moved into New York City in 1976 and to Westchester County in
1986. But there were big blank pages staring at me, waiting for me to remember the "lesser" highlights. I went back through old diaries and appointment books and sat for
hours with old photographs. I asked my family for input about major family events (marriages, divorces, graduations, births and deaths) until my book started to fill up with short phrases or words to remind me of
the moments that make up my life. Most of the entries are in my own cryptic shorthand. For example, in 1969 I wrote the simple entry, "the
year of impending doom," to remind me that it was the year my parents first separated, preceding their divorce. Sometimes a single word leads
me to a wealth of memories. "Mimi's" reminds me of my time spent as a singing waitress in an Italian restaurant in New York City, working from
8 at night until 4 in the morning, learning about a different side of the city (and human nature). The Life Book makes it possible for me to always remember that my
mother married my stepfather in 1974, and that I was 19 when it happened. And that I was accepted into the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop in 1981, I started a new public relations job in 1984, went to
Maine in 1989 and New Zealand in 1992. I know when my dad moved to Florida, when my brother became a full professor and when FAMILY CIRCLE published my first magazine article. New friends, new
adventures, new insights, sort of a short-hand autobiography. Each New Year's Eve, I enjoy the ritual of writing the number of the new year at the top of a new page, knowing that I will soon be filling it
with the happenings of the year ahead. It's been said that all we really want in our lives is to be able to tell our story, to share the details of our having lived, to know that our living
mattered. Keeping a Life Book gives me a way to keep track of my life, helping me remember how I got where I am - a year at a time. Years from now, when the details are fuzzy and the events too numerous to
hold on to, my Life Book will be there, each page filled to the brim with adventures large and small, reminding me and all of my relations that I did indeed live a full, rich life. ©1999 Sandi Kimmel E-mail: sandik@musichealer.com
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've been blessed with a good memory and, as a result, became the family historian. From time to time, the phone would ring and
I'd hear, "When did we drive to Florida?" or "What year did you sing at the Café Lena?" or "When did we go to the dude ranch?" I always
prided myself in being able to come up with an answer.